The Eleventh Hour of the Eleventh Day of the Eleventh Month

Mamacita says: This day used to be known as Armistice Day, in honor of the armistice that was signed on the “eleventh hour of the eleventh day of the eleventh month”. This year, 2012, marks the 95rd anniversary of Armistice Day.

This term also refers to the fact that back in ancient times, a worker who was hired at the eleventh hour of a twelve-hour workday was paid the same as those who had worked all twelve hours.

After World War II, Armistice Day was changed to Veterans’ Day. Many people do not realize that this is an international holiday, observed by many other nations as well as by the United States.

Perhaps you have wondered why veterans often wear a poppy in their lapel on this day? Let me introduce you to Flanders Fields:

Schools do not teach students much about World War I, and I have never really understood why. Most social studies classes, unless it’s a specialized elective, study the Civil War (Frankly, my dear, I don’t give a damn) and then make a giant leap over everything else so they can briefly mention World War II (Hitler was bad) and then leap again and remind students that JFK was assassinated (“I am the man who accompanied Jacqueline Kennedy to Paris”) (“I am a jelly doughnut!”) all just in time for summer vacation. I learned most of what I know about World War I from reading L.M. Montgomery’s Rilla of Ingleside, and yes, it’s another Anne book; this one is mostly about Anne and Gilbert’s daughter Rilla. I cry every time I read it, even though I know what’s going to happen. You’ll cry, too. This book was written eighteen years before Anne of Ingleside, which takes place when the children are very young and was was sort of “inserted” into the list of Anne books, but that’s all right. I would imagine, though, that at the time the books were being written and published, that might have been confusing to readers. Anne of Ingleside has an ominous vision in it, that comes true in Rilla of Ingleside. I have not been able to re-read Anne of Ingleside ever since I realized this.

i wonder how many of YOU realized that Anne of Green Gables is the first of a series? Run, don’t walk, to the library THIS MINUTE. Or click and go to Amazon. You need these books in your home.

L.M. Montgomery is one of my favorite authors.

My favorite L.M. Montgomery book is Jane of Lantern Hill. If you aren’t familiar with these titles, my goodness, SHAME ON YOU, and get yourself to the library right away. This is unacceptable! Anne might be Montgomery’s best-known heroine, but there are many others! Jane Stuart has only book book to tell part of her story, but my favorite Montgomery heroine-with-a-series is Emily Starr; her story is told in a lovely trilogy that thrills me to the core.

Ahem. Sorry. In any lesson, often the tangents are more interesting and teach us more than the actual lesson.

On this day, let us honor the men and women who keep us safe, both past and present.

I’m not a Clinton fan, neither him nor her, but I do like this quotation by him: “There is nothing wrong with America that cannot be cured by what is right with America.”

I also like this one by Calvin Coolidge: “The issues of the world must be met and met squarely. The forces of evil do not disdain preparation, they are always prepared and always preparing… The welfare of America, the cause of civilization will forever require the contribution, of some part of the life, of all our citizens, to the natural, the necessary, and the inevitable demand for the defense of the right and the truth.”

And I’ll end this post with this one, by FDR: “When you see a rattlesnake poised to strike, you do not wait until he has struck before you crush him.”